Xing Yi invented ink in the Western Zhou Dynasty.
1. The Compilation of Ancient Calligraphy contains: In the Western Zhou Dynasty, "Xing Yi began to make ink, and the characters were made from black soil, soot and earth."
2. The process of the invention of ink:
(1) During the period of Zhou Xuanwang, a painter named Xing Yi accidentally got his hands dirty while painting, and when he was cleaning in a nearby river, he accidentally picked up a piece of loose charcoal and got a black hand, which aroused his interest. Xingyi took the pine charcoal home and pounded it into powder, blended it into a semi-solid paste with something like glutinous rice porridge, kneaded it after adding pot ash, and dried it in the sun in long strips.
(2) When you need to use it, add a little water and grind it a few times, then you can use it for writing or painting. Xing Yi named this ink stick "black soil", and later found it inappropriate, so he combined the two words "black soil" into a single word "ink", which was called "Xing Yimo" in history.
Extended information:
Types of ink:
1. Pine smoke ink
Pine smoke is ink made by burning pine oil and then collecting its smoke. Pine smoke ink is dark and dull, slightly cool. The ancients often used to render hair and eyebrows, which is a good product for writing small letters and meticulous painting. Varieties are: Ejiao pine tobacco, five old pine tobacco, Komatsu tobacco and so on.
2. Oil fume ink
Oil fume is an ink made of oil, mainly tung pomelo seeds or lard as raw materials, and then the smoke is collected. Oil fume ink has a certain luster, warm color, which can be thick or light. It is mostly used for marking and rendering, and it is a good product for Chinese painting and calligraphy in China. Variety, mainly: blue smoke ink, bright ink, tung smoke ink, oil smoke ink and so on.
3. Lacquer smoke ink
Lacquer smoke ink is made of more than ten kinds of precious raw materials, such as raw lacquer, lard, tung oil, musk, borneol, gold foil, clove and pig bile. Ink essence glows black, which is a kind of advanced oil smoke ink. Lacquer, smoke and ink are bright and suitable for painting, and their characteristics can last for a long time.